Roma D’ Italia celebrates 65 years around the table in Tustin
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There are more than 90 items on the menu at Roma D’ Italia in Old Town Tustin. Some of the dishes have been served at the family-owned Italian restaurant since it was founded in 1961.
“Definitely the spaghetti and meatballs,” Alfio Rossetti, who shares general manger responsibilities with his aunt, Teresa Corea-Golka, said of the longtime popular offerings. “Really, a lot of classics too, like lasagna and your quintessential Italian dishes.”
This year, Roma D’ Italia celebrates 65 years in business and the continued ownership by the Dominic Corea family.
“Most family businesses don’t make it to a second generation. Very few make it to a third,” Corea-Golka, stated. “For over 60 years, our family has had the privilege of serving the Tustin community.”
Located at 611 El Camino Real, under a vintage sign that features a plump chef tossing a pizza in the air, Roma D’ Italia is among the oldest operating Italian restaurants in Orange County.
Inside, a blackboard listing the daily specials hangs above a table lined with framed family photos. In the dining room, red checkered tablecloths drape each table and a basket of warm bread is delivered promptly after you order, accompanied by a small dish of butter chips.
The atmosphere is warm and loud, the way it might feel to dine in an Italian American home, with traditional Italian comfort food to match.
Rossetti said in the last six decades, more than just the menu has remained unchanged.
“We have always been busy,” he said.
Dominic Corea and his wife, Nina, purchased the restaurant in 1968 from Sam Manfre, a fellow Italian who hailed from Calabria, the same region of Italy as the Coreas. Dominic was a carpenter by trade but he learned the restaurant business quickly while Nina handled the recipes.
“She perfected some of the recipes we use today,” Rossetti said.
By the 1970s, the family had purchased the building. Corea-Golka and her sister, Tina Rossetti, eventually took over the restaurant.
After a career on Wall Street, Alfio Rossetti returned to the family business too, making him part of the third generation in the family to run Roma D’ Italia.
In the mid-2000s, he advocated for an expansion of the dining room in order to serve large groups.
“I saw there was a demand for large parties,” Rossetti said. “We had a lot of customers who have been eating here since they were small children and they would call and want to do a birthday party, or baptism, first communion, wedding rehearsal dinner, graduations…”
The restaurant closed briefly to add a banquet room, which turned out to be a smart business move.
“It totally exceeded our expectations in terms of demand. It actually generated more demand. We use it for a lot of stuff now,” Rossetti said.
The banquet room also handles overflow on busy Friday and Saturday night service.
In 2022, Roma D’ Italia invested in their permanent patio by adding a red outdoor covering that matches the red checkered tablecloth aesthetic inside.
Today the restaurant can accommodate nearly 200 guests, with plenty of space to serve signature dishes like spaghetti Roma D’Italia, a baked dish with mushrooms and ricotta cheese, and angel hair Teresa that tosses capers, onions, black olives, crushed tomatoes and basil with the thin pasta. Hand-thrown pizzas are topped with fresh vegetables and premium meats with the request that customers allow extra time for their preparation, since they are made to order. Rossetti said keeping the menu consistent is one of the reasons Roma D’ Italia has lasted as long as it has.
“There was a big push to add seafood to the menu and we really expanded the salad offerings when we started opening for lunch in the 1980s,” he said. “But we have never changed how were are making the pizza dough, the meat sauce, the meatballs.”
Just as the Corea family raised their children at the restaurant, local diners have made Roma a family tradition for their own kids, coming back year after year.
On a recent afternoon, the dining room was filled with customers enjoying lunch while staff members sang to a table celebrating a 70th birthday.
“We have customers who have dined here with their parents and grandparents and now bring their own children,” said Corea-Golka. “Those relationships are what make this anniversary so meaningful, and our family is ever grateful for their continued loyalty.”
In honor of the 65th anniversary, Roma D’ Italia is hosting a community fundraiser on July 21 benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of Tustin, which is also marking a milestone anniversary of 60 years this year.
“We wanted to do something that gives back to the community very locally and they are our neighbors here in Old Town,” Rossetti said.
Twenty percent of all sales that day will be donated to support the organization’s mission of serving local youth.
The entire Roma D’ Italia team is proud of making it to 65 years, and Rossetti feels hopeful about the restaurant’s future.
“I don’t really see stuff changing,” he said. “I think there is still a market for us and our product.”
As for the fourth generation?
“None of them are old enough to work — yet,” he said.
Roma D’ Italia is located at 611 El Camino Real in Tustin. For reservations call (714) 544-0273 or visit romaditalia.com.
